The Grey Tower

Zack stood,taking the mug, and bowed his head as Ubriel walked into the emerging scuffle. Shaking his head to himself, he took the remnants of her stew and bread and moved to a table a little farther away to watch what was quickly becoming an interesting confrontation.

Sopping the stew with the bread and nibbling at it, he made a grunt of approval and chewed happily.

OOC: I have limited time myself, I will hop in as I can.

Ubriel did not change her stance but she watched as the men squared off. It occurred to her that she had not tried to spar inside a building since that time she had accidentally cracked Peach over the head when the rain drove her practice into the barn. "I'm sure I am better now, much more skilled," she thought to herself.

She stepped a little forward and to one side, positioning herself so that she had a clear line of sight to the man who had been blustering about his money. "I'm sure you remember about the chance of losing now, don't you? You just had to be reminded, right? Why don't we all share a round of ale and talk about the fickle nature of luck?"

The only fight you could be sure of winning was the one you could avoid. That was in one of those books she had been reading during her visit to the Stedding. It sounded like sage advice so she was giving it a shot, but she was making note of the amount of clear space available for maneuvering too.

Dax OOC: You are all welcome to take this thread anywhere you like, for the record! The Watch could come, an Aes Sedai or Warder could come, we could literally tear the tavern down...I'm totally up for whatever, so take it away and have fun! ;)

Ubriel stumbled as the swordsman collided with her, but planting one foot behind her, she managed not to actually fall. She felt accomplished and unbeatable since the momentum of such an impact was difficult to resist.

Hearing the call for the Watch, she heard a voice in her head saying she should probably not walk into the Grey Tower to ask for training with a charge of misconduct fresh on her record. She told it to be quiet and charged into the fray.

Taking note of two fellows hefting a table as if they thought to bash it into the giant's back, Ubriel used a shortened version of one of her favorite practice moves and brought her staff down atop the greasy head of the closer of the two. The solid thwack that resonated through the staff was quite satisfying. The man dropped his side of the table which fell on it's side and knocked the other man over. Right into the table where Zak was eating her stew. She grinned as she saw him lift the bowl and bring it down on the man's head.

The one she had thwacked was clutching his head and barreling towards her. She lowered her staff, point top end out, and braced for impact.

OOC: Zack has given me permission to move him around a little as needed until he can rejoin us.

As Ragan heard a loud thwack behind him, he turned away from the man who had tried to stab him who now lay unconscious on the floor having managed a nasty cut on his arm, and saw a table roll away as the man who had been hit dropped it. He looked around and noticed the girl who had joined him and the swordsman at the beginning. Ragan nodded his thanks to her when he saw her take a pikemans stance 'why would she be doing that?' Ragan thought.

 

 Then he saw the man with the large rod shaped welt on his forehead 'light we cant have someone dead, not when im here at least.' Moving as fast as he could, Ragan made to kick the man off course. Making contact Ragan felt the resounding thud as the man bounced off of his boot and heard a sharp crack. His leg took the path of the man that he had kicked though and flew towards the point of the staff that the girl was using.

 

The point of the staff stabbed into Ragan's leg just above the knee joint and he fell howling to the floor. As the patrons of the bar began falling on top of Ragan he saw the swordsman fighting against three more men. 'where is claw?' Ragan thought 'how is he not feeling this too?'

 

Dax realized he was humming softly under his breath as he ducked beneath one man’s punch, side stepped a kick, and threw his own fist into a third man’s chest. If I have to get kicked out of a tavern, I may as well go out with a bang, he thought, as someone’s shoulder connected solidly with his right arm and knocked him sideways. He landed on hands and knees, then pushed himself back to his feet with all his strength, the back of his head connected solidly with a stranger’s jaw.

His eyes swept the room and caught on the absurd sight of a man standing with a bowl over his head, the remnants of the cook’s delicious stew dripping off his chin and down his back. What an interesting day this has turned out to be. He lifted his leg and kicked the man in front of him in the chest, sending him stumbling backward to sprawl on top of the giant, who had fallen to his knees in the mess.

After a few more minutes of flesh colliding with flesh, it dawned on the swordsman that the watch had not yet arrived, and that he had a slim chance of getting away without any consequences at all. For a moment he felt guilty –the giant and the woman had stepped up for him when they certainly did not need to!- but he shook it off. They were adults, albeit young ones, and could certainly fend for themselves.

Dakson side stepped another drunken attempt at a tackle, ducked a punch, and cursed as a booted foot squarely connected with his shin, causing pain to flare from foot to forehead. He would not be dissuaded, however; step by step he pulled himself further away from the fight and closer to the door that led to the back of the tavern, until finally he was able to throw his weight at it in a single-minded bid for escape.


OOC:

I play this character is by flipping coins to determine his actions. Even if I think it's a REALLY bad idea, I go with what the coin says, and in this case...it said to leave. :P

I feel like that decision will have very "interesting" effects on our future relationships as fellow Tower trainees even if he doesn't actually manage to escape the inn (his effort to leave was neither subtle nor smooth). We should talk in IRC about what those effects might be! ;)

Someone else please take the wheel. I'll roll with whatever you decide happens next.

Ubriel's eyes widened in surprise at the unintended stabbing of the giant's knee. She began to move forward to help him up when another roaring local lifted a chair over his head to her left. She swung her staff in his direction connecting with the soft lump of his gut. He dropped the chair on himself and went down in a heap. The heap tripped another pair of tussling sods and Ubriel moved to the place where the giant was pushing at the fellow who had fallen over him.

Placing the staff under the rear side of the man on top, Ubriel levered him off of the giant and shouted, "Sorry!" before turning back into the fray. As she spun around she bumped into Zacharyn and knocked him back into a barmaid who was facing the other direction. A loud crashing noise drew her attention to the back of the room where one of the original dicers was escaping out the back.

Another man wearing an apron and brandishing a spoon of all things came stomping into her line of sight. Lifting her staff in both hands diagonally in front of her, she shoved it at the man's face connecting with his chin. There was a changed in the sound and press of the crowd around her and suddenly she was aware of thin tendrils of smoke drifting in the air around her head.

Turning toward the fireplace, looking for the source of the smoke, she had just time to register the woman brandishing the burning leg of a table before something cold and hard cracked into the back of her head.

Zacharyn growled in frustration. "Why can't a guy walk into a flaming bar (OOC: No pun intended...hehe) for a bite to eat without being thrown into a bar girl and having his stew broken!" he said dusting the shoulders of the serving lady's blouse and turning to look into the fray.

CRACK! He watched as Ubriel was cracked in the back of the head by a stray mug of flying ale. "I've had enough of this." He said. He'd been known to break up a fight when he needed to, but this was getting far out of hand.

Running up to Ubriel he tossed her over his shoulder and began to walk to the door and stopped. He looked down at the man whose leg looked like it had taken quite a blow and offered him a hand. "I can get her and give you a shoulder to lean on if you want help getting out. We have to be quick though I feel like this place is going to become worse than a tavern in Ebou Dar any minute now."

The door flew open and Dax tumbled out, his barely catching his balance in time to avoid falling face down in the courtyard muck. He took a moment to collect himself then strode into the darkness, the coins in his purse jingling faintly with each step. Once in the alley behind the tavern, he stopped and adjusted himself, tucking the purse out of reach of nimble fingers and pulling his cloak around him. It appeared it was time to move on sooner than planned. Pity…he had rather liked Hama Valon.

As he moved back into the main street he heard a cry of “Fire!” and the sound of rushing feet. He turned, and saw a thin tendril of smoke emitting from the door of the property that he had just vacated. “Blood and bloody ashes,” he muttered, feeling unwanted guilt stir in his gut, “Who brought fire into that mess?” He could have left his unexpected companions to fight alone in a relatively harmless brawl without a second thought. However, if anyone died in that fire…everyone in the tavern knew his face now. As the stranger in town, it was all too likely he would bear the blame if he ran.

Emitting a steady stream of offensive curses under his breath, the swordsman turned on his heel and headed back toward the Jumping Swordfish. As he approached, a man wearing an apron handed him a bucket. “There’s a well ‘round the corner. We’re going to need a lot of water.” Still cursing, Dax obediently fetched water.

Ubriel's vision exploded with twinkling silvery flashes and she couldn't tell if she was still upright. She squeezed her eyes shut and let her knees fold, tightening her grip on her staff. Suddenly she was being thrown over a shoulder. Squinting her eyes open, she lifted her head slightly from her position hanging down Zacharyn's back. Peering around her, the garish orange glow of several flaming pieces of furniture threw distorted and dancing shadows across the billowing smoke that was quickly filling the room. As Ubriel's eyes began to adjust and her vision cleared, a hulking figure came lunging out of the smoke towards Zacharyn's back. Ubriel yelled, "Watch out!" and pulled her staff around in a clumsy sweep. It tangled in the assailant's feet and she watched him tumble taking her staff with him.

Ubriel started struggling and yelling, "Put me down! My staff! I have to get it. Put me down!" She grabbed the back of Zack's pants at the waistband and yanked herself forward, throwing her feet up to break his grip. Tumbling down his back, she scrambled to her knees and grabbed her staff. Using it to pull herself upright, she lunged forward to the door. "Ok let's go!" Without stopping to see who was with her, she rushed out of the back door and into the fresh air.